This blog is all about a man with a beard who does triathlons.

Month: July 2017

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I’ve now done 300 rides on my trusty Scott Addict, bought second hand two and a half years ago. I’ve blogged about it (him) before (here), but I thought that I would blog again as I’ve reached a good milestone.

300 rides is about 2-3 rides every week, although he does get used more in the winter as my Principia, even after 17 years, is my summer bike (here). Back to my Scott, and my Eddington scores are 67 miles and 91 km. If you don’t know what Eddington scores are you can read about it here and here. My longest continuous ride was 323 km when I was training for a triple ironman (here), although I managed further during the triple with a few hours sleep.

The hilliest ride was when I had an unsuccessful Everesting attempt, where I made it 7200m of climbing. Monsoon conditions, numb hands and a puncture ended my attempt, although you can read about my other Everesting attempts here and here.

My total mileage in 13,500 miles, which works out at 45 miles per ride, which isn’t too bad, especially as my commuting bike works out at less than 8 miles per ride. Climbing works out at 695m per ride, which again isn’t too bad as I spent a year riding on the flat lands of Hull.

Final pointless statistic is that I’ve received on average 56 kudos per ride, making my Scoot my most kudos’d bike.

So, here’s to the next 200 rides as I’ll blog about him once again when I reach 500.

One thing I like about Veloviewer is the segment analysis page, which also lets me know that I’ve done over 12,000 different segments. I can also sort them by how many times I’ve done them. I have now done 99 segments 100 times or more.

After ten months of commuting to and from Wigan, there are now five segments in the area that I’ve done 100 times. I’ve attempted the ‘Ince Park’ segment 104 times, although it isn’t too exiting.

Due to traffic and being on my commuting bike I’m nowhere near the top of the leader board, but that OK.

The segment that I’ve done the most times is still ‘Dallas Road Pothole Dash’, with 529 times, although the last time I did it was May last year, so it might not stay at the top too much longer.

The segment that I’ve done that has been done by the most people is ‘Embankment Bridge to Waterloo Bridge’ with over 25,000 different athletes having done it. I remember a few years ago being exited when a segment had been done by over 1,000 different people. If it’s not on Strava it didn’t happen 🙂

Commuting each day from Lancaster to Leigh via Wigan wouldn’t sound as if there was too much to see, but you would be wrong. Let me tell you about some of the sights that I see.

I am sure that The Preston International Hotel easily matches the delights of Vegas or Monaco.

The Wigan football stadium is majestic, although I would prefer to visit it for a non sporting occasion.

The Swan and Railway pub near to the station. Trip Advisor has some good reviews, so it could be the one nice pub located in an oasis of turgidness that is King Street. The most depressing selection of drinking establishments ever gathered on one street. Although I was interested in seeing the covers band Slipknowt.

There is a caravan park near Scorton that has a big slide going into the river. That looks like fun.

Virgin trains reserve two seats for cyclists. What they say is ‘Reserved cyclist’, which is me. But what if you’re an out going kind of person riding a bike, where do you sit. Is there a reserved seat for ‘Flamboyant cyclist’?

Santos & Co. have been making sweets in Wigan since 1898, including Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls. Give ’em to your granny and watch the bugger go, as Mike Harding used to sing.

Not a sight, but at 17:15 every day, an automated announcement at Wigan train station telling you to keep an eye on your belongings as any unattended bags will be removed without warning. Surely this is a warning.

There are some nice statues.

The Silverwell pub still has a banner outside advertising Euro ’16.

A Doctors surgery on Organ Street.

On 13th April 2017 I saw a narrowboat navigating the Wigan series of locks. First time I had seen a moving boat on the canal.

The Virgin ticket inspectors had badges with ‘Revenue Protection’ printed.

Have you ever seen a pedestrian crossing for horses? There is one in Wigan.

I’ve blogged about the problems I’ve had with taking my bike on a train before (here), and once again I’m the victim of the vagaries of Virgin Trains.

Last week I tried to catch the 17:38 train from Wigan to Lancaster, with my bike. I had a bike reservation, so no problem. I would never try to take a bike on a train without a reservation, unless the company don’t do them (here). The train was a little delayed, but not enough for a refund. The platform staff were all ready to unlock the bicycle storage compartment, when the train manager said ‘no more bikes’. Both myself and the platform staff mentioned that I had a reservation, but the moron on the train wasn’t having any of it. He’d let a load of people on with bikes who didn’t have reservations.

If that happens it’s quite simple. One of the people without a bike reservation gets off the train and I get on. I’ve seen it happen in the morning at Preston, where someone without a reservation had to make way for four bikes, who had reservations.

The unsympathetic train manager suggested that I get the next train. Great idea, except I don’t have a reservation for that train, and I’ll have to wait another 45 minutes. I wasn’t happy. The platform staff told the train manager that he was in the wrong, but there was nothing more they could do. As I watched the train roll out of the station without me, one of the platform staff got on the radio to get me a reservation for the next train. He also told me that he wouldn’t let the train leave the station without me on it. They couldn’t have been more helpful. Complete opposite of the tosser on the train.

At Wigan today, the platform staff asked me it I’d complained. I had, but hadn’t had more than an automated response, so he told me to complain again. Not a good system, although to be fair to Virgin, they do appear to be the best of a bad lot.

Since my Triple Ironman last year (here) I’ve been struggling with my mojo, culminating earlier in the year with some serious soul searching (read about it here). But, the last month has seen a complete turn around, which is down to four things.

Firstly, I’ve been able to run again with the help of some very specific stretches. I’ve not been going far, but I’ve done three park runs in the last month.

Secondly, I reached the mile stone of completing 300 Strava challenges, and to celebrate I rode 300km, from Lanarkshire to Lancashire (read about it here). I wasn’t sure when I set off whether I would make it, but my wife said that I looked like I’d been for a walk in the park when I arrived home.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I had a great cycling holiday with my wife up in the highlands of Scotland. It was fantastic and I especially relished the fact that you have to take it easy when you’re loaded up with panniers.

Finally, Veloviewer added a new metric, the maximum cluster score (read about it here). I won’t explain it again, but to improve your score you have to search out new roads and places you’ve not been before.

In the last month I can safely say that my mojo has returned and I’m back to enjoying going out cycling and running, on my own or with my beautiful wife.